Judge backs injunction on sex texts

A top businessman has won a permanent High Court ban on a former colleague making disclosures about his sex life.

The chief executive officer of a substantial group of companies, who can only be identified as BUQ, brought an action for breach of confidence and misuse of private information against HRE, the ex-managing director of one of the group’s subsidiaries.

Three years ago, he won a temporary injunction preventing HRE from disclosing texts sent by BUQ to HRE in 2009 and 2011 relating to sexual activity between BUQ and others and photographs sent in a September 2011 email.

His case was that there was no public interest in the disclosure of private and intimate information and that HRE was blackmailing him and the group for a “huge and unjustified” sum of money by way of severance.

In August 2013, an employment tribunal unanimously dismissed HRE’s claims against BUQ and others, saying that BUQ did not sexually harass HRE, and HRE had deliberately exaggerated the nature of the relationship between them.

The tribunal also found that HRE had dishonestly misappropriated well over £500,000 of company monies for his own use and deliberately concealed this within the financial returns.

HRE admitted spending £50,000 on cocaine and £40,000 on prostitutes out of £170,000 withdrawn for entertainment purposes.

The tribunal also found that HRE had tried to blackmail BUQ, the group and the majority shareholders into paying him a very large sum of money to leave his employment and had provided false evidence about that.

Today, Mr Justice Warby, sitting in London, granted BUQ a final judgment and a permanent injunction, saying that the tribunal’s findings left HRE with no realistic prospect of successfully defending the claim on the merits.